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Garden Triangle

Around this time last year, I removed a wedge of lawn near the sidewalk to make room for some flowers. That nifty little triangle of dirt proved to be a lot of fun. Through spring, summer and early fall, an assortment of flowers bloomed. By late November, most of it had gone to seed. All that remained was the Statice, relocated from the curb garden earlier in the year.

My reward for letting the plants go to seed: a host of spring ‘volunteers.’

Here is a photo from February 25th:

Wedge garden: February 25th

Here it is today:

Wedge garden: March 26th

The Statice really filled out. It’s also about to bloom. The purple and yellow pansies are blooming for the second time and the seedlings have doubled or tripled in size. Now that the growing pattern is taking shape, I transplanted a few volunteer seedlings heavily concentrated at the curb. Spade in hand, I held my breath and took the plunge. They drooped for half a day, then bounced right back. Now I’ll have a nice mix throughout the triangle.

Congregating at the curb

Garden pansies spring back to life

Purple Statice

Still a mystery. Any guesses?

I collected a lot of seeds last year, including Cosmos, Bachelor Buttons, Four O’clock’s and Zinnias. Between the collected seeds, the volunteers and the bag of wildflowers (intended for last year but lost, then found) the garden should bloom all season.

Do you have a favorite spring flower? Is there something you’ve always wanted to grow? Let me know in the comments below.

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28 thoughts on “Garden Triangle”

I love Sweet Peas, but never seem to get them started early enough, and this year is no exception! Little Johnny-Jump-Ups delight me too and the cornflower blue of Bachelor Buttons pleases my eyes. Life is hard right now and I keep thinking that I should treat myself to a few posies in pots by the front door. My grandmother would have done so.

I had no idea statice would bounce back after winter – a nice surprise! Could that be a Californian poppy seedling? I’m going to try growing Zinnias for the first time this year, as I saw so many pictures of butterflies on them last year on other blogs. 😀

Cathy, they don’t always come back. I’ve had a few die over the years after a frost, but this plant seems immune.

Those could be poppies. I planted some unusual pink ones last year and not a single one came up. Maybe they decided to skip a year. Stay tuned.

I bought a six-pack of zinnias last year, then nearly killed them after a freakishly early heat wave. I moved them from pots to the garden and they thrived there. They also attracted butterflies, always such a treat. Can’t wait to see what you do.

mmmmm, those leaves look all feathery like Cosmos. Do you think? The ones on the curb look like Dianthus or Carnation maybe? Or perhaps you know those ones. How fun to have a mystery garden and get to see what’s popping up. Loving the Pansies, they are the cheeriest! I always had such a hard time deciding what colour to get at the garden. Dot (the lady I worked for) had soooooo many varieties. I liked the antiqued ones but also mauve and Blue because they matched our awnings on the house. I’m gobsmacked by that static! It’s full grown, wow! When we were in Virginia, we went to Monticello. The garden there is planted with heritage seeds, lot’s of unusual varieties that aren’t sold commercially any long. There was a Static there that was like a gathered ribbon and two shades of coral/peach/pink…..stunning. When I finally unpack albums from storage, I’ll have so many photo’s to scan and share 😀 What a great idea, a curb garden 😀

Cosmos are a distinct possibility. It that’s what they are, then wow will I have a nice assortment. It’s fun not knowing exactly what’s coming up.

Pansies are cheery, aren’t they? I love that you bought a variety to match your awning. You’re so clever.

I’ve grown statice before and had it die over the winter. This one is three years old now, and doing better and better each year. Perhaps its more hardy than some of the ones from the past. Clearly it likes it’s current spot so hurray for that.

I would love to go to Monticello. It sounds wonderful.

Hurray for unpacking albums from storage. If you still have negatives for all your prints, I have an idea for you. I took twenty years of negatives to target and had them all transferred to CDs. I think it was under $200, not bad for digitizing a lifetime of photos.

You will love it. Also a very, very nice garden was at the Royal Roads University. There’s a stunning garden there and the beautiful Hatley Castle. My girlfriends dad fought there and there’s a tree planted there in his honour. Sadly, Mr Duke has passed away but it’d be fun to visit his tree. I got a photo of him sitting beside it it when we were there.

Thanks so much for all the links. I went to Butchart Gardens in 1980. Can you believe it? I had a few snapshots at the time, but they were discolored 110 shots so I finally tossed them. Now I’ll have new ones! Can’t wait. I am so darn excited.

The Royal Roads University is stunning in those photos. What a sweet story about the tree. Definitely a visit and an photo are in order. Is it August yet???

I’m sneaking in here late, late late. But when you go to Butchart, you will both love the High tea they have inside the solarium. It was wonderful ever so many years ago. The gardens surrounding made everything taste extra special. I think they still have it.

Funny you should mention carrots, SB. One year I thought I had volunteer carrots and it turned out to be poppies. They have a similar lacy leaf. I’ll know soon enough. Stay tuned and thanks for commenting.

beautiful! I want to start just a little fresh mound for the same sort of thing. It seems easier than trying to work some of those flowers from seed in among mature plants. Can’t wait to see the end result this year compared to last!

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I'm passionate about gardening, organizing, blogging and cats. I live in Silicon Valley, California with my husband of 23 years. We have two grown sons, but our feline family varies. The current count is three.